The Chemical Keys to Thanksgiving Dinner (ACS Webinar)

A good meal must be as harmonious as a symphony and as well-constructed as a Norman cathedral.” Fernand Point, ‘Ma gastronomie’ (1897-1955). This can be said of Thanksgiving. Home cooked meals that traditionally took a full day and a host of hands to prepare now take just hours. So what have we lost with these age-old preparations? Chemistry. It’s in techniques like brining, marinating, basting, and slow cooking. It’s where seasons marry and interact – producing tender, succulent and flavorful dishes. Learn why old-fashioned, time-staking approaches to cooking still provide the best results.

“The Chemical Keys to Thanksgiving Dinner” A short presentation followed by Q&A with speaker Dr. Harold McGee, scientist and author of a regular column in the New York Times, The Curious Cook.

What You Will Learn

■The pros and cons of brining your turkey

■The two kinds of turkey muscle and how they’re best cooked

■How heating rates affect the flavor of sweet potatoes

■Why traditional persimmon pudding is almost black, and how to make it persimmon-colored

ACS member Harold McGee has been writing about the science of food and cooking for 30 years, and was recognized with the 2008 Grady-Stack Award for interpreting chemistry to the public. His encyclopedic book On Food & Cooking: The Science & Lore of the Kitchen is a standard text in culinary schools. His latest book, a cookbook companion, is Keys to Good Cooking: A Guide to Making the Best of Foods and Recipes. He also writes a column, “The Curious Cook,” for the New York Times.

Bill Courtney is the chef/owner of Cheese-ology Macaroni & Cheese, located in the University City Loop, just west of the city of St. Louis, Missouri. Following completion of his undergraduate degree in Chemistry at the University of Missouri – Columbia, Bill worked a short time as a Q.C. Chemist for ConvaTec. A shift in interest eventually took Bill to the The Genome Institute at Washington University, where he spent 9 years working with the leading genetic and genomic research scientists in the United States. In a radical move, Bill struck out on his own to open Cheese-ology, the culmination of years of a self-described “un-natural obsession” with Macaroni & Cheese. Open since June 2010, Cheese-ology Macaroni & Cheese features over 15 varieties of Macaroni & Cheese to satisfy any Mac & Cheese craving